matei oana

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POLITICAL CULTURE AND PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

IN ARAD ROMANIA

Oana Matei, [email protected]

Assistant Professor, candidate for a doctors degree

Western University, Vasile Goldis, Arad, Romania,Faculty of Humanistic, Political and Administrative Sciences,

3 Unirii Str., 310023 Arad, Roamania, tel. 0040/257/282324, [email protected].

ABSTRACT

Public administration is a component of government and therefore may be analyzed

from a political perspective, not only as another form of managerial activity (Peters1989:45). Patterns of political culture and general culture values influence the operation

of the administrative system. This paper tries to analyze political culture focusing to the

inputs side of the political system in order to understand and justify the results of the

political system seen as outputs. Attention is given to attitudes and values concerningpolitical participation, democratic procedures, political efficacy and political

involvement.

Romania is an Eastern European country with a subject political culture (Almond and

Verba 1996) in which institutional and role differentiation exists in political life, buttowards which the citizen stands in largely passive relations and they are oriented only to

the outputs side of the political system. Romanian citizens are not focused to the inputs

side of the political system and this is one of the reasons which determine their negative

perception on the public administrations activity. They do not consider themselves as apart of the democratic process and that is why they do not feel responsible in any way

and they do not relate political culture to the activities of government and to majorinstitutions. Romanian citizens tend to evaluate public administrations activity less

positive than citizens from Western European countries and they do have a cynical view

of corruption and favoritism in the public bureaucracy.

What this paper tries to demonstrate is the fact that the relation between politicalculture and public administration influences the citizens perception toward public

administrations activity. The more citizens of a democratic country feel themselves as

part of the political process and they focus their attention to the inputs side as well as tothe outputs side of the process, the less they will negatively percept public

administrations activity. The more they will see themselves as part of the democraticprocess, the less they will tend to underestimate public administrations activity and they

will feel themselves responsible for the whole process (inputs and outputs).

Arad city is a town with a population about 150000 citizens. My survey uses a

questionnaire applied to 1300 citizens and analyses their political participations because

it is an important issue in understanding political culture, societys system of values and

societys relations with the democratic institutions (including public administration).

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Politics and governing cannot be appreciated just in terms of efficiency and

rationality, but are judged in terms of honesty, abiding of fundamental freedoms and

human rights, of equality etc. This moral dimension sums up the system of norms, beliefs,

values shared by a certain society in a given moment of its evolution and in the extent towhich these are reflected, or not, within the political process. Definitely, the moral

dimension of the political process manifests evaluations of the moral or immoral type;ethical or non-ethical. A certain governmental decision or a certain political view can beconsidered moral or can be labeled as immoral; both will always be imbued with

morality. And, as long as the political process invariably implies a moral dimension, it is

very important to observe the way in which the citizens relate themselves to thisdimension. It is very important how they perceive it, how they perceive themselves in view

of that dimension, which is the position they stand on as part of the political process and

how do they see the morality in which they can interact and influence that certain

dimension. It is very important to mention that the reference is made to the democraticsystems, more specifically what Popper (Popper 2005) referred to as open societies,

those that stimulate and liberate the creative potencies of the human being. Because the

relation between the perception, expectancies and the final results of the democraticprocess, namely the public policies implemented through the public administration, is

able to quantify positively or negatively the moral dimension of the political process in a

democratic country. When the citizens feel that they are a part of the democratic process,they will experience the feeling that they can influence the process, implicitly they will

acknowledge the fact that, one way or another they are responsible for the moral

dimension of that certain process, more specifically that morality or immoralityassociated to politics also depend on the status of their civic conduct.

Democracy is a morally-political, society project (Morar 2006), thus is it

important to notice how exactly does the relation between the value system from a certainsociety and the abiding of the principles that are implied by democracy as a process

work. The civic dimension of the behavior of the citizens of a democratic society cannot

be evaluated without making use of an elementary morality, composed out of the normsand values shared by that certain society.

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1. INTRODUCTION

Democracy as a political process implies a certain type of specific ethics. The

democratic institutions develop and perpetuate a certain type of specific ethic.

Democracy as a civil practice requires, as well, a type of specific ethics. Thus, theassociation between ethics and democracy is nowhere near oxymoronic (Morar

2006:316) but, on the contrary, a very pertinent one. Ethics associated to democracy as a

political process involves abiding of the criteria for a democratic process (Dahl 2002:

139-167). Administrative democratic institutions imply a type of ethic inspired by

Webers model but adapted to the requirements of the institutional management with

potent deontological accents (MacIntyre 1988; Thompson 1992). Democracy as an

exercise implies a participative type of ethic, which manifests itself as a critical attitude

of the citizens towards the political decisions and as the actual possibility of influencing

the decision making process which regards the community to which they pertain to.

The violation of the criteria for a democratic process generates preferential

treatments and threatens the principle of equality of chances, both as an equal start, as

well as an equal access (Sartori 1999: 309). Unabiding the criteria for a democratic

process violates the rights of the citizens to have equal access to the services of the public

administration and deprives them of the actual participation in the democratic process.

Violating the criteria for a democratic process deprives the citizens of the opportunity to

form real opinions regarding the activity of the administrative institutions and to

formulate real proposals which targeted the improvement of the activity of these

institutions and of the whole democratics process.

The perception of citizens regarding the morality of the institutions of the state in

the political process is the determined by the conviction of the citizens that the goverment

will not act in the virtue of the competence, integrity and morality norms. (Sloterdijk

2001:24). If the democratic principles ethic generates trust for the political process and

participation at it, from the citizens, the cynisism of the political gaps generate an attitude

of distrust and non-participation from the citizens. Modern cynisism is that attitude of

rejecting agreements, after they have initially been accepted, due to the disappointment

caused by these agreements. The modern cynic has no faith in the political process, in the

institutions of the state nor in the political figures or civil servants, and this attitude is a

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result of the fact that his trust has been betrayed and his expectations deceived. Modern

cynisism, thus implies, the perpetual decrease of trust in the competence, efficiency and

morality of the political and administrative process, leading to pessimism and lack of

participation.

2. THE OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The main objectives of this study aimed to demonstrate that:

The violation of democratic ethic imposed through the criteria for a

democratic process, generates lack of participation, a negative conotation of

the whole political process, a rejection of the values promoted by the

political process (in one word, modern type cynisism)

The degree of satisfaction concerning the way citizens live is directly

associated with their perception of the morality of the states institutions and

with the participation to the democratic process.

Romania is a former communist country, with a relatively brief democratic practice,

and with a subjective type of culture (Almond&Verba 1996:47-50). The characteristics of

the subjective type culture (or dependent) are: the prioritized orientation towards the

output aspects of the system (the process through which the policies are imposed,

administrative authorities) and a relatively reduced orientation towards the input aspects

(flows of demands from the society to the administrative-political body and the

conversion of these demands into public policies). The subject is aware of the states

authority, be it political or administrative and is affectionately oriented towards it. He

labels this authority as moral or not, he sympathises with it or not, as a participant in the

system, he is passive.

The absence of democratic maturity and relatively brief period of democraticpractice, can be considered reasons for the lack of participation to the democratic process

but, ive considered that other essential causes may be found in the unabiding of the ethic

imposed by the democratic process. The modern cynic is passive and rejects the values

implied by the democratic process but he does this because he was disappointed by the

entire system. Thats why I have considered that the preferential access to the services of

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the administrative institutions, in accordance to different gifts that the citizen must

offer in exchange for those specific services, represents one of the causes which generates

cynical attitudes and, thus, lack of participation.

Cynisism and lack of participation determine a critically negative attitude regarding

the whole democratic system. The citizens who dont partake to the democratic process,

who consider that they cannot influence the decisions of the administrative institutions

tend to negatively connotate their activity and to be unsatisfied by the way they live,

without assuming in any way responsability for this thing. Not assuming responsability is

due to the fact that they do not consider themselves as being part of the decision making

process.

The morality of the state institutions decisions is directly associated with the

increase in the satisfaction level regarding the way in which these institutions run, in

regard to the way in which they themselves live and determine the increase in the level of

participation to the democratic process. Therefore, the morality of the administrative

institutions will increase the citizens participation to the democratic process and will

determine the act of assuming responsability from their part, by the active involvement in

the decision making process, opening up the way towards deliberative democracy.1

3. THE STUDYS HYPHOTESES

HYPHOTESIS 1. The violation of the democratic principles deprives the citizens of

participation to the democratic process and of the opportunity to form real opinions

regarding the activity of the administrative institutions, determining a modern type

cynical attitude from their part.

HYPHOTESIS 1.1. The violation of the democratic principles deprives the citizens

of participation to the democratic process.

1The differences between participatory democracy and deliberative democracy rest on the communication

mode employed; public deliberation is present in all deliberative democracy process, but may not be

present in participatory democracy process. See TINA NABATCHI, Some Preliminary Frameworks for

Understanding and Evaluating Citizen Participation in Public Administration, paper presented at the FirstGlobal Dialogue on Ethics in Public Administration, 27-30 may 2009, Amsterdam;

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HYPOTHESIS 1.2. The violation of the democratic principles deprives the citizens

of the opportunity of forming real opinions regarding the activity of the states

institutions.

HYPOTHESIS 2. The modern cynic is not actively involved in the democratic

process, having a distrustfull attitude and labeling as negative the activity of the states

institutions

HYPHTHESIS 2.1. There is a cleavage between the two aspects of the democratic

process (input-output), the citizens orienting themselves mainly towards the output

aspects.

HYPOTEHSIS 2.2. The orientation towards the output aspects negatively

connotates the activity of the states institutions.

HYPHOTESIS 3. The satisfaction level of the citizens reflects their implication in

the democratic process.

HYPHOTESIS 3.1. The participation and involvement of the citizens in the

democratic process is associated with the satisfaction level.

HYPHOTESIS 3.2. The citizens satisfaction level reflects their involvement in the

democratic process.

HYPHOTESIS 4. The morality of the states institutions influences the satisfaction

and involvement level of the citizens

HYPHOTESIS 4.1. The morality of the states institutions activities influences the

satisfaction level of the citizens.

HYPHOTESIS 4.2. The morality of the states institutions influences the

involvement level of the citizens.

4. THE STUDYS METHODOLOGY

4.1. VARIABLES INVOLVED IN THE STUDY

Independent variables (IV)

A. the violation of democratic principles

a1 low

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a2 mean

a3 high

B. satisfaction level of the citizens

b1 low

b2 high

C. the democratic involvement level of the citizens

c1 low

c2 high

D. the states institutions morality

d1 high

d2 mean

d3 low

Dependent variables (DV)

X. participation to the democratic process

- the citizens opportunity to form real opinions

- the degree of influence over the local decisions

- the citizens degree of satisfaction for the way they live in

- the citizens degree of satisfaction for the way in which the states institutions

work

4.2 THE TYPE OF DESIGN

For hyphotesis 1.1 we have a basic between subjects quasi experimental design

Independent variable (IV)

unabiding democratic principles

a1 low

a2 mean

a3 high

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Dependent variable (DV)

the citizens level of satisfaction for they way they live in

the citizens level of satisfaction for the way in which the states institutions work

For hyphotesis 2.1we have a descriptive design for the variable that measures the

citizens influence level over the decisions on a local level.

For hyphotesis 2.2 we have a correlational design, dependent variables among

which the correlation is made being the level of satisfaction of the citizens

regarding the way they live and the level of democratic involvement, on one hand,

and between the citizens level of satisfaction towards the way they live and the

level of satisfaction in which the states institutions work.

For hypothesis 3.2we have a basic between subjects quasi experimental design


citizens level of satisfaction for the way they live in

- high

- low

Dependent variables (DV)- the citizens democratic involvement level

For hypothesis 4.1 we have abasic between subjects quasi experimental design.


- the states institutions morality

- d1 high

- d2 mean

- d3 low


the citizens satisfaction level

For hypothesis 4.2.we have a basic between subjects quasi experimental design


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- the states institutions morality

- d1 high

- d2 mean

- d3 low


the citizens involvement level

4.3 UTILISED INSTRUMENTS

Methodologically speaking, a questionnaire containing ten questions was used (see

annex nb. 1), questions which referred to the satisfaction level of the citizens regarding

the activity of the administrative institutions, the treatment they benefit of from the local

authorities, the level of satisfaction concerning the way they live and the way in which

the states institutions run their activity, as well as to the methods in which they think

could influence the decisions on a local scale. All the questions were closed, and some of

them (the ones that ranked the administrative institutions and the ones that wanted to test

the morality of the administrative institutions) with multiple choice.

Morality versus the violation of the democratic ethic were measured through

questions regarding the preferential treatment applied by the institutions of the state,

according to the gifts offered by the citizens for access to administrative services.

Cynicism and lack of participation were measured through questions referring to the level

of satisfaction in which the administrative institutions work and the level of satisfaction

of how citizens live, as well as through questions referring to the way things are headed

in Romania and to the way they consider that they can influence decisions on a local

scale.

The data was gathered in the period May 2008 February 2009, using the simple

random method. The data was processed by using the statistical program SPSS.

4.4 SAMPLE

1314 people from Arad city took part in this study (Arad city, according to the 2002

census2, has a population of 172827 inhabitants), out of which 661 (50, 3%) males and

2http://recensamant.referinte.transidex.ro, 14 iulie 2009;

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http://recensamant.referinte.transidex.ro/http://recensamant.referinte.transidex.ro/


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The subjects' distr ibution on education levels1%0%

46%

7%

4%

2%

7%

8%

25%

w ithout school m iddle school 5-8 grades apprentice school

fir st level of high-s chool vocational s chool high-s chool gr aduat es

post high-school college graduates MA-PHD

Figure 2.Distribution according to the education levels of the subjects

5. DATA LAYOUT

HYPOTHESIS 1. Unabiding the democratic principles deprives some citizens of

participation to the democratic process and of the opportunity to form real opinions

regarding the activity of the administrative institutions, determining a modern type

cynical attitude from their part.

HYPOTHESIS 1.1. Unabiding the democratic principles deprives the citizens of

participation to the democratic process.

In order to test hypothesis 1.1 we summed up the number of institutions ticked by

the subjects at the questions 3, 4 and 5 of the questionnaire, dividing this new variable in

3 categories: low, mean and high violation. According to this labeling, I have madecomparisons for the scores obtained at the 9

th question of the questionnaire, Do you

think that you can influence the decisions on a local scale? The results of the descriptive

processing have been centralized in table 1. The mean differences are graphically

exemplified in Figure 3.

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Table 1. The results of the descriptive processing for the influence of citizens

over the decisions at a local scale in concordance to the violation of the democratic

principles

VIOLATION OF THE DEMOCRATIC PRINCIPLES

LOW AVERAGE HIGH

m1= 3,54

med1= 3,00

mod1= 3

min1= 1

max1= 5

m2= 3,35

med2= 3,00

mod2= 3

min2= 1

max2= 5

m3= 3,40

med3= 3,00

mod3= 3

min3= 1

max3= 5

sd1= 1,00 sd2= 0,99 sd3= 1,01

Figure 3. The mean values for the influence of citizens over the decisions at a

local scale.

3,54

3,55

3,5

3,45 3,40

3,4 3,35

3,35

3,3

3,25

Unabiding the democratic principles

Low Average High

We can observe tendencies towards differences between the three categories of

violating the democratic principles. As a result of all the conditions being met for a

parametric inferential test, I tested the statistical significance with Anova unifactorial. As

a result of calculating the F test I have obtained F = 3,913 atp= .020, which means that

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the violation of the democratic principles deprives the citizens of participating to the

democratic process.

Because the value of the F test only shows us a general influence of the degree of

violation of the democratic principles I used the post-hoc comparative test to see between

which categories of violation are the differences statistically significant. In Table 2 there

are shown the mean differences and the level of significance for comparing the violation

types two by two.

Table 2. The results of the post-hoc tests regarding the influence of the citizens over

the decisions on a local scale according to the violation of the democratic principles

(I) (J) Mean difference p

LOW MEAN 0,19 0,037

HIGH 0,13 0,106

MEAN LOW -0,19 0,037

HIGH -5,15 0,775

HIGH LOW -0,13 0,106

MEAN 5,15 0,775

There are statistically significant differences on a level p


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Table 3. The results of the descriptive processing for how content the citizens

are with the way in which they live

THE VIOLATION OF THE DEMOCRATIC PRINCIPLES

LOW AVERAGE HIGH

m1= 3,04

med1= 3,00

mod1= 3

min1= 1

max1= 5

m2= 2,91

med2= 3,00

mod2= 3

min2= 1

max2= 5

m3= 2,95

med3= 3,00

mod3= 3

min3= 1

max3= 5

sd1= 1,01 sd2= 0,93 sd3= 0,88

Table 4. The results of the descriptive processing for how content the citizens

are with the way in which the states institutions run

THE VIOLATION OF THE DEMOCRATIC PRINCIPLES

LOW AVERAGE HIGH

m1= 3,25

med1= 3,00

mod1= 3

min1= 1

max1= 5

m2= 3,33

med2= 3,00

mod2= 3

min2= 1

max2= 5

m3= 3,37

med3= 3,00

mod3= 4

min3= 1

max3= 5

sd1= 0,95 sd2= 0,94 sd3= 0,85

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HYPOTHESIS 2. The modern type cynic is not actively involved in the democratic

process, having a distrustful attitude and labeling as negative the activity of the states

institutions.

HYPOTHESIS 2.1. There is a cleavage between the two aspects of the democratic

process (input output), citizens mainly orienting themselves towards the output aspects.

To verify hypothesis 2.1, if there is a cleavage between the input and output aspects of the

democratic process, citizens mainly orienting themselves towards the output aspects, i

carried out the descriptive processing for question 9 from the questionnaire, Do you

believe that you can influence the decisions on a local scale?. The central tendency

indices are: the mean = 3,54; median = 3,00; modulus = 3; minimum = 1; maximum = 5.

The histogram of the 9th item is shown in Figure 5. and the answer frequencies in Table

5. Taking into consideration the fact that the scores of the participants were graded from

1 to 5, where 1 = a very great deal, 2 = a great deal, 3 = not very much, 4 = very little and

5 = i dont know/wont answer, we can notice by analysing the histogram and the

frequency table that the participants have answered in a percent of just 14,4% that they

could influence the decisions at a local scale, in a small and very small deal 68,3% of the

subjects and 17,4% have said they dont know.

Table 5. The frequency of answers for question 9 of the questionnaire

Answer Frequency Percentage Cumulated

percentage

A very great deal 41 3,1 3,1

A great deal 148 11,3 14,4

Not very much 544 41,4 55,8

Very little 353 26,9 82,6

Dont know/Wont

answer

228 17,4 100,0

Total 1314 100,0

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Q9

5,04,03,02,01,0

Q9

Frequency

600

500

400

300

200

100

0

Std. Dev = 1,00

Mean = 3,4

N = 1314,00

Figure 5. The histogram for the 9th

question of the questionnaire

From the analysis of the frequencies with the chi-square inferential test the value of

= 573,801, signifies at a level p = .000, we notice that there are significant differences

between the frequencies with which the answers were chosen, so a type of asnwers

significantly differs from the others in regard to the frequency with which it is chosen. In

other words, the orientation of the citizens towards the output aspects of the democratic

process is obvious, thinking that they cannot influence the decisions on a local scale.

HYPOTHESIS 2.2 The orientation towards the output aspects negatively

connotates the activity of the states institutions.

In the case of hypostasis 2.2, in order to investigate if there is a relation between the

orientation towards the output aspects and the satisfaction/dissatisfaction of the citizens

regarding the activity of the states institutions ive calculated the correlation coefficient r

Bravais-Pearson. The coefficient r = 0,226 significant at the level p =.000 points out a

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HYPOTHESIS 3.2 The citizens level of satisfaction reflects their involvement in

the democratic process.

In the case of hypostasis 3.2., in order to analyze if the citizens level of satisfaction

reflects the involvement in the democratic process, I put together two categories: high

degree of satisfaction and low degree of satisfaction, towards the way in which citizens

live. The results of the descriptive processing for the democratic influence which the

citizens have on a local scale according to their level of satisfaction have been marked

down in Table 6. The mean differences are graphically shown in Figure 6.

Table 6. The descriptive processing results for the influence of citizens on the

decisions on a local scale according to their satisfaction level.

LEVEL OF SATISFACTION

LOW HIGH

m1= 3,17

med1= 3,00

mod1= 3

min1= 1

max1= 5

m3= 3,56

med3= 3,00

mod3= 3

min3= 1

max3= 5

sd1= 1,12 sd3= 0,92

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3,56

3,6

3,5

3,4

3,173,3

3,2

3,1

3

2,9

Level of satisfaction

Low High

Figure 6. The mean values for the influence of citizens on the decisions on a

local scale according to the satisfaction level

We can notice tendencies towards differences in the case of the results sets obtained

for the influence level according to the citizens satisfaction degree. We establish that

when the satisfaction level is higher, the people involve themselves a lot more,

considering they can have a greater influence.

With all the conditions being fulfilled for the application of an inferential

parametric test, I checked the statistical significance of the differences with the t test for

independent samples. Thus, Ive obtained a t= -6,704, (N1 = 414; N2 = 900) at a level of

significance p = .000. Therefore we can appreciate that the citizens level of satisfaction

in regard to their way of life is reflected by their involvement in the democratic process.

HYPOTHESIS 4. The morality of the states institutions influences the citizens

level of satisfaction.

HYPOTHESIS 4.1. The morality of the states institutions activity influences the

citizens level of satisfaction.

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Hypothesis 4.1. investigates the fact that the states institutions morality influences

the citizens level of satisfaction. In order to accomplish the necessary statistical

processing I have summed up the number of ticked institutions at questions 2, 3, 4, 5 and

6 of the questionnaire, by each participant, questions which refer to the offering and

accepting of gifts or favours within the states institutions, therefore they reflect an aspect

of the level of the states institutions morality. Thus I have established 3 categories of

morality, high, mean and low, where high morality means a low number of ticked

institutions and low morality means a high number of ticked institutions by the

participants. Next, i carried out the descriptive processing for items 8 and 10 of the

questionnaire, items that measure the satisfaction level of the citizens towards their

lifestyle and the way in which the states institutions run. The obtained sets of results

were centralized in Table 7. and Table 8. In order to illustrate the mean differences I have

made the graphs from Figure 7 and Figure 8.

Table 7. The results of the descriptive processing for the satisfaction level of

the citizens concerning their lifestyle

THE MORALITY OF THE STATES INSTITUTIONS

HIGH AVERAGE LOW

m1= 3,11

med1= 3,00

mod1= 3

min1= 1

max1= 5

m2= 2,90

med2= 3,00

mod2= 3

min2= 1

max2= 5

m3= 2,94

med3= 3,00

mod3= 3

min3= 1

max3= 5

sd1= 1,00 sd2= 0,94 sd3= 0,89

We can notice differences in regard to the satisfaction level of the citizens for all

three categories of the states institutions morality: when the morality is higher so is the

satisfaction level, in comparisson to the low level of morality, when the citizens

satisfaction level is lower.

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3,113,15

3,1

3,05

2,943

2,902,95

2,9

2,85

2,8

2,75

The morality of the states inst itutions

High Average Low

Figure 7. The mean values for the citizens level of satisfaction towards their

lifestyle

Table8. The results of the descriptive processing for the citizens level of satisfaction in

regard to how the states institutions run.


HIGH AVERAGE LOW

m1= 3,30

med1= 3,00

mod1= 3

min1= 1

max1= 5

m2= 3,30

med2= 3,00

mod2= 3

min2= 1

max2= 5

m3= 3,34

med3= 3,00

mod3= 3

min3= 1

max3= 5

sd1= 0,92 sd2= 0,97 sd3= 0,83

In regard to citizens level of satisfaction concerning the way in which the states

institutions run there are no notable differences for the first two morality categories of the

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states institutions, the mean obtained by the high morality category being the only

different one.

3,34

3,34

3,33

3,32

3,31 3,30 3,30

3,3

3,29

3,28

The states institutions morality

High Average Low

Figure 8. The mean values for the citizens level of satisfaction towards the way in

which the states institutions run

We can notice general differences between the means obtained for all three morality

categories, but for the examination of the statistical significance Ive applied inferential

test one-way ANOVA, all the conditions for the accomplishment of the test being

fulfilled. The results for the inferential processing are shown in Table 9.

Table 9. The results for the inferential processing

F p

The citizens level of satisfaction concerning their lifestyle 6,099 ,002

The level of satisfaction in regard to how the states institutions run 0,307 ,737

The significant differences can be noticed in regard to the satisfaction level concerning

the citizens lifestyle, but in order to point out exactly the differences between the three

groups structured on the satisfaction level in relation to the morality of the states

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Table 11. The results of the descriptive processing for the citizens influence level over

the decisions on a local scale


HIGH AVERAGE LOW

m1= 3,50

med1= 3,00

mod1= 3

min1= 1

max1= 5

m2= 3,47

med2= 3,00

mod2= 3

min2= 1

max2= 5

m3= 3,36

med3= 3,00

mod3= 3

min3= 1

max3= 5

sd1= 0,96 sd2= 1,03 sd3= 1,01

3,50

3,473,5

3,45

3,4 3,36

3,35

3,3

3,25

The morality of the states ins titutions

High Average Low

Figure 9. The mean values for the influence of citizens over the decisions at a

local scale.

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6. FINAL CONSIDERATIONS

The violation of the democratic principles, that is to say treating citizens in a

preferential way by the states institutions, according to the gifts they offer to have

access to the services offered by these institutions, deprives the citizens of participating inthe democratic process, because they consider that they cannot influence the decisions of

the community to which they partain. When the access to the public services is made

preferentially, citizens live under the impression that they are not an active part of the

democratic process, not having real opportunities to participate and influence the

democratic process.

The hypothesis according to which the violation of the democrating principles

deprives the citizens of the opportunity to form real opinions regarding the states

institutions activity has been only partially confirmed, this thing could mean that the

citizens of Arad do not consider that the violation of the democratic principles is a must

so that they can form real opinions regarding the states institutions activity. Furthermore,

the citizens of Arad do not consider that the participatino to the democratic process is a

condition so that the states institutions undergo satisfactory activities. Therefore, the

democratic exercise is not perceived at its real importance, the citizens of Arad proving

that they posess a dependent or subjective type of civic culture.

The citizens perception concerning the violation of democratic principles differs

depending on the different categories of institutions. So, asked to rank the institutions of

the state according to the satisfaction level they have for these institutions, the citizens of

Arad have considered that they are the least satisfied by politics, the most satisfying

being the educational system. The public administration is situated on a relatively good

position, on the second place in terms of satisfaction, after the educational system.

When it comes to the real solving of a problem, health is considered that part of the

system where citizens feel the need to offer gifts in exchange for fair services. Thistime, the public administration goes up the pole in the institutions hierarchy, on the

fourth place, in which citizens had to offer something in exchange for the services they

are rightfully entitled to.

When asked if those gifts were asked for, again, the health system was on first

place, as institutions where these gifts were mostly asked for. The public administration

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is on the last but one place. And when were asked if they thought it best themselves to

offer the gifts, the healthcare system took a substantial lead on a position which holds

the highest rate of offering gifts, the public administration coming fourth.

Therefore, although the citizens of Arad are the least satisfied by the political aspect

of the community from which they partake, the healthcare system is the place where the

most gifts have been offered in exchange for the services offered, regardless if these

gifts were or were not solicited, if they had to offer them to benefit of a fair treatment

or if the citizens thought by themselves that it would be best to offer them something so

they were better taken care of. Also, the perception of the fact that at the hospital you

have to offer something in exchange for a fair treatment was pretty obvious, taking first

place. The public administration was, most of the times, situated on a comforting last but

one place, therefore, it seems that some steps are being made regarding the improvement

of the citizens access to the services of the administration and the professionalism of the

civil servants. An interesting remark could be that when they are asked if they consider

necessary to offer such gifts to be treated fairly, the citizens of Arad place the

administration on the last but one place, whereas when asked if they had ever had to offer

gifts in exchange for a fair treatment, they place the administration on a lesser place,

quality wise speaking. One of the explanations might be cultural, in the sense that the

citizens have accustomed themselves with a sort of routine in offering small gifts,

without being asked for them. The same explanation is valid in the following situation:

when they are asked if those gifts were asked from them or not, the citizens of Arad put

the public administration on the last but one place, but when asked if they thought it best

themselves to offer them, again, they place the public administration on an inferior

position.

In regard to differences of the perception concerning the violation of democratic

principles by the states institutions, according to the gender of the questioned person, no

statistically significant differences have been noticed. Also, no significant differences

have been noticed in relation to the violation of the democratic principles by the states

institutions, depending on the level of education. Frequency differences have been

noticed on different education levels but these are due to the different number of subjects,

with different levels of education, that took part in the study (see figure 2).

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There is a cleavage between the two aspects of the democratic process (input-

output), citizens mainly orienting themselves towards the output aspects. Therefore, the

statement that Arad has a dependent (or subjective) type of civic culture is also

statistically confirmed. The citizens of Arad have knowledge of the specialization of the

states institutions but the orientation as active participants towards the input aspects is

minimal (Arads citizens are not participative), orienting themselves mainly towards the

output aspects (the citizens of Arad qualify their satisfaction towards the states different

institutions differentially),

This orientation mainly towards the output aspects of the system, connotes mainly

negatively the activity of the states institutions. When the citizens do not feel as part of

the democratic system, not participating at the decision making process, they do not feel

responsible for the decisions taken and neither for the effects which they have socially.

Not being an active and integrated part of the democratic process, not assuming these

decisions, they tend to connote them preponderantly negatively.

The participation and involvement of the citizens is associated with their level of

satisfaction concerning their lifestyle and how the states institutions run. There is a

significant correlation between the satisfaction level of how they live and how the states

institutions run, on one hand, and their participation to the democratic process, in the

sense that those who have a high satisfaction level consider they can influence in a great

deal and very great deal the decisions on a local scale and those with a low satisfaction

level think exactly the opposite. When the satisfaction level is higher, the people involve

themselves more, considering that they can have more influence. So we can appreciate

that the citizens level of satisfaction regarding their lifestyle is reflected by their

implication in the democratic process.

There are no statistically significant differences concerning the citizens satisfaction

level for their lifestyle and for the way in which the states institutions run, according to

their gender and/or the education level of the people that are questioned. Also, there are

no significant statistical differences concerning the gender of the questioned people in

regard to the involvement in the democratic process but there are significant statistical

differences when it comes to the involvement level in the democratic process according

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to the education level of the questioned people, the most involved being the ones with

average studies.

The morality of the states institutions influences the citizens satisfaction level both

in the way they live and in regard to how the states institutions run. When morality is

higher so is the satisfaction level concerning both the lifestyle of the people and the way

in which the states institutions run. Also, when morality is higher, citizens consider they

can better influence decisions on a local scale. Therefore, the moral and perspicuous

institutions are a must for the citizens participation at the democratic process.

The perception of Arads citizens that things are going on the right path in Romania

is associated with their satisfaction level concerning their lifestyle, in the sense that, the

higher the satisfaction level of the citizens is, the more they think that things have a good

evolution in Romania. The relation between the citizens satisfaction level in relation to

the way the states institutions run and their perception regarding the way things go in

Romania is, also, a direct proportional one.

The perception of Arads citizens that things are going in the right direction in

Romania is associated with the level of influence over the decisions on a local scale, in

the sense that, the lower the influence level of the citizens over the decisions on a local

scale is, their perception regarding the way things go in Romania is negative.

There are differences in regard the optimism towards the future according to the

gender of the questioned people, in the sense that Arads male population seems to be

more optimistic than the female population. Also, there are statistically significant

differences regarding the optimism towards the future according to the level of education

of the questioned people, the people with average studies being the most optimistic.

The violation of the democratic principles deprives the citizens of the participation

to the democratic process and, moreover, distort the image they have about that process

in question. Arads citizens are mostly oriented towards the output aspects of the system,

their orientation towards the input aspects of the system, as active participants, being

almost close to zero. The citizens of Arad do not feel part of the administrative political

process, not assuming responsibility for the decisions that are taken on the scale of the

local community, they could be described as having a dependent type of civic culture.

Not feeling responsible for the decisions on a local scale and not assuming them, the

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citizens of Arad tend to connote negatively the activity of the states institutions.

Although in the cases of many institutions they have been solicited certain gifts to

benefit of a fair treatment, there is also the general tendency to benevolently offer these

small presents. The perception of the states institutions morality influences the

citizens satisfaction level regarding their lifestyle and the way in which the states

institutions run but also the level of involvement in the democratic process. As the

perception of the states institutions morality grows, so will the satisfaction towards the

lifestyle and the way in which the institutions of the state run. Also, as the perception of

the states institutions morality grows, so will the involvement of the citizens in the

democratic process. Very important, the perception of Arads citizens that things are

going in a good way in Romania is associated with their level of influence over the

decisions on a local scale. The less citizens think they can influence decisions on a local

scale, the more they will consider that things are going in a wrong direction in Romania,

and vice-versa, the more they think they can influence decisions on a local scale, the

more they consider that things are going in the right direction.

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version, Ed. DuStyle, Bucureti,1996;

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